Category: International
In addition to our field programmes in Madagascar and Belize, we regularly share our learning at international conferences and we’re supporting various partners to adopt our conservation models in other tropical developing coastal regions.
Talking ‘pweza’ (octopus) on Pemba Island, Zanzibar
By Brian Jones, Conservation Coordinator, Toliara, Madagascar (Photos by Brian Jones and Jo Hudson) As far as reccie trips go, there are worse places to be sent than Pemba Island, Zanzibar. Though the coast of southwest Madagascar holds a special place in...
Women octopus gleaners and loan sharks in Mozambique
The second update from my time in northern Mozambique, advising local NGO AMA and their Edinburgh-based partner Bioclimate on community-led octopus fishery management… Walking around the small and quiet village of Quiwia with a group of fisherwomen, we see racks of drying octopus lying in...
‘Polvo’ and participatory mapping in Mozambique
It’s a good job I don’t mind getting my hands dirty! I’m standing on an island in the bay of Mocimboa da Praia in northern Mozambique with the sun beating down, and a group of about ten fishermen crowded around...
Celebrating women who inspire change
I'm currently volunteering with the Safidy programme in Andavadoaka, and was offered the opportunity to write this special blog post for International Women’s Day...
Sustainable tuna fisheries management in the southwest Indian Ocean
by Charlie Gough, Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator, UK Flying into Maputo, Mozambique in November 2013 I was excited and a little apprehensive. I was representing Blue Ventures at the 4th annual forum of civil society organisations (CSO)/private sector (PS) for...
Greetings from the Pacific Northwest
by Trevor Jones, Geospatial Analyst & Manager – Blue Carbon Science, Vancouver Update from Blue Ventures’ newest branch in Vancouver, Canada. Greetings from the Pacific Northwest! After two exciting and fruitful years in Madagascar, I have moved to Vancouver, Canada to...
The Geo for Good Summit: putting cutting edge mapping technologies in the hands of non-profits
By Trevor Jones, Geospatial Analyst & Manager, Blue Carbon Science, Vancouver What happens when you spend a week with representatives from dozens of non-profits, educational institutions and research institutes learning about recent advances in mapping tools and technologies at the...
Spicing up aquaculture: experiences from our regional workshop in Zanzibar
by Jo Hudson, Conservation & Communications Officer, London As I stepped off the plane in Stone Town, Zanzibar, the heat hit me like a slap the face and I was dazzled by the sunlight – I thought to myself “Toto...
Staff Q&A with Frances Humber, Conservation Programme Manager
In the eighteenth instalment in our series of Q&As with Blue Ventures staff, we ask Frances Humber, our London-based conservation programme manager, some searching questions about science, conservation and superpowers… What is your professional background? Despite the cliché, I had decided...
Making an IMPAC at the International Marine Protected Areas Congress
by Olivier Raynaud, Maintirano & Barren Isles Project Coordinator, Madagascar Following Geeling, Australia in 2005 and Washington DC, USA in 2009, the third International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC3) was held in Marseilles, France in October 2013. Jointly organised by the...
A meeting of minds at GCFI’s lionfish sessions
After attending the recent launch of the Regional Lionfish Strategy at the International Coral Reef Initiative general meeting one month earlier, I was excited about taking the next step in collaborative efforts to control invasive lionfish. This time, it involved...
From imperilled parrotfish to invasive lionfish – the ICRI GM28 was (almost) all about the Caribbean
The International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI), formed of 60 members comprising governments, international, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations, held its 28th General Meeting (GM28) in Belize City, October this year. A year ago, Blue Ventures joined this global partnership, which strives...
How is your climate literacy?
by Sylvia Paulot, Blue Carbon Scientist, Toliara – Madagascar I recently attended a training on climate change and marine protected areas in South Africa, part of the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association (WIOMSA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration...
PHE is alive and kicking: inspiration and endorsement from Addis Ababa
By Laura Robson and Caroline Savitzky The excitement was palpable as we gathered with almost 200 of the world’s finest Population-Health-Environment (PHE) practitioners, researchers and advocates in Addis Ababa for the International PHE Conference earlier this month! With all of...
Reaching the hardest to reach with reproductive health choices
Two boys splash across the shallows as the tide goes out in the channel by Begamela, a small fishing community on Madagascar’s southwest coast, chasing after their model pirogues, adjusting the sails and setting them off in a race towards...